Imagine it is December 31, 2015 and you are looking back over the year as it closes. Close your eyes and picture yourself sitting at your desk or in your funeral home or out on the cemetery grounds and you are reminiscing about 2015. As you look around, what changes do you see? Additional feature items? Updated decorating? New staff? Better technology? What has gone on all year long?
Of course, you can’t know everything that will happen in the year ahead, but if you put yourself at the end and work backwards, you may be surprised at what you come up with. Perhaps you do a year-long review beginning in January and working towards the end of December imagining what took place each month and what opportunities appeared. Did you plan a big event? Can you imagine the people attending and the business and publicity it brought? What about your own personal growth? Can you contemplate what conferences you attended in 2015? What new hobbies did you take up or what did you do to enjoy those outside activities you already have?
It may seem odd to start at the end and work backwards, but there is a reason for this. Most of our business planning takes place in our left brain. We work the budget, analyze the numbers from 2014 and set financial goals for 2015. We schedule events, plan staff trainings and look at our “To Do” list and move things over from 2014 to 2015. All of the analysis, planning and shifting is a function of our left brain.
Yet it is in our right brain that our imagination resides. This is where we can access inspiration and creative problem solving. This is where those “ah-ha” moments and lightning bolt ideas occur. It is imperative that you shift into your right brain in order to gain a different perspective on your goals and plans. By starting at the end and seeing our goals already manifested, it allows you to gently turn off the number cruncher/practical side of your mind and instead delve into the possibilities for the year ahead.
Doing this on your own is a wonderful exercise, sharing this with someone else is even better. Have conversations with a family member or colleague speaking “as if” something has already occurred. Each of you add details and dimension to the conversation and attach to the excitement of having such a great outcome. Do not break “character” and do not allow yourself to start to judge, analyze or dismiss (a left brain function.) Stay with the moment and have fun in your role playing. You may be surprised at the ideas that start to flow or the renewed passion for the work you do. Remember this is your fantasy and all outcomes are not only possible, but guaranteed.
Most of our adult lives are spent in our left brain, but watch children at play. They slip into their make believe world so effortlessly. A tea party can be found with just a couple of plastic cups and a guest or two. A fort can be built from couch cushions and a couple of blankets. Where did this part of us go? Did we outgrow the “silly” stuff of childhood and leave our inner Peter Pan behind? Find it, take it back and reclaim your inner child. Imagine, create and have fun while you create the business you desire; while you see yourself succeeding along with all of those people around you; while you create worlds full of new ways of doing things, new sights to see and new plans to implement. The child within you remembers how to live in your right brain of creativity and ideas, so take some time today to live out December 31, 2015 and look back on a year that amazed, amused and “wowed” you!